Ciaran Brown meets the 1981 Grand National winning jockey Bob Champion The Bob Champion Cancer Trust I met Bob Champion at the 'Collectormania 15' event held at the MK Dons football ground in Milton Keynes, in June 2009. Bob's win in the 1981 Grand National is one of the greatest stories in sporting history, a real triumph over adversity. He signed three photographs for me and I had my photo taken with this truly inspirational man. Bob Champion was born in 1948 in North Yorkshire, where his father, an ex-soldier, was a Huntsman with the famous Cleveland Hunt. Bob has a younger sister Mary. Initially, Bob developed a dislike of horses after his pony threw him into a bed of stinging nettles! By the time he was ten, he was riding again, and confidently jumping over gate Bob regarded school as a nuisance, and showed no interest in it, so his father sent him to study engineering at Trowbridge College in Wiltshire, where he could also live and work on his uncle's farm. Uncle Arthur trained point-to-point horses and when Bob was fifteen he won a race on one of them.

Bob (centre) with his huntsman father and sister gates and hedges. He became a fearless rider and spent every spare minute he had on a horse. Bob's first win aged 15 When he was nineteen, Bob joined rac racehorse trainer Toby Balding as an amateur jockey in his stables in Hampshire. He remained there for five years, during which time he won around forty races, picking up numerous injuries on the way. However, he felt that he was not getting enough racing opportunities and left in 1972 to go freelance, eventually riding for many top trainers. Within two years, he was established as a tough, professional jockey, including sixth place behind Red Rum in the 1973 Grand Nati Josh Gifford, Aldaniti & Bob Champion National. That season, Bob rode 29 winners from his 227 rides. In In 1973, Bob joined former champion jockey, and later a trainer, Josh Gifford , as his stable jockey, at Gifford's stables in the village of Findon, West Sussex.

Bob Champion aged 19 For the next six years, Bob Champion rode plenty of winners for Gifford, who had many good horses in his yard. He also had rides each year in the Grand National without success. In 1974, Gifford bought a horse called Aldaniti (a name formed fro from the names of the breeder's grandchildren (Alastair, David, Nicola and Timothy) which won its first race at Ascot in 1975, ridden by Bob Champion. Bob Champion winning a race on Kybo Aldaniti Gifford then sold the horse to businessman Nick Embiricos. Bob Champion rode the horse in fourteen further races over the next three years, with three wins, three seconds and two thirds, in the last of which (the Hennessy Gold Cup), he was injured and spent seven months confined to his stable. During the 1978-79 season (when the owner, trainer and jockey all thought they had a horse capable of winning the Grand Nati National), Bob rode Aldaniti in seven more races, the last a winner at Haydock in 1979.

Then Bob Champion discovered that he had life-threatening cancer, and had to stop riding. Bob & Aldaniti win at Haydock (1979) .....and Ascot (1981) The film Champions (starring John Hurt as Bob Champion) powerfully shows the dark days of the jockey's fight against cancer During his painful treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Bob was told by Josh Gifford that his job at Findon would be there when he had recovered, and that he would ride Aldaniti in the Grand National. For Bob Champion, the very thought of winning the National on this hor horse became an inspiration as he underwent his third course of chemotherapy. It actually took six courses of treatment to get rid the cancer, and by the time of the 1980 Grand National he was in no condition to take part - but then neither was Aldaniti, who went lame in a race at Sandown in November 1979. So Poignant scene from Champions where Aldaniti is lame and may have to be destroyed bad was the injury that the vet recommended that the horse be put down.

Nick Embiricos and his wife Valda wouldn't hear of this and Aldaniti spent all of 1980 recuperating at his owner's Sussex home. Meanwhile, Bob Champion had left hospital in January that year. The illness and the chemotherapy had left him bald and so weak he could hardly stand. However, with Aldaniti giving Bob the will to live and race again, he had beaten the disease, and began a gruelling training regime Nick Embiricos he returned to his old job as Gifford's stable jockey. A month later he rode a winner at Fontwell. The future was looking good again! By 1981, both Bob Champion and Aldaniti were fit again to regain his full fitness. By August 1980 Aldaniti too had recovered and, in February 1981 Champion rode the horse again to win a 3-mile race at Ascot. All was now set for the Grand National in April 1981 to be run over the daunting fences at Aintree Racecourse. Aldaniti, carrying 10st 13lbs, was the 10-1 second favourite of thirty-nine runners.

Aldaniti's main danger was the race favourite Spartan Missile, bred, owned, trained and ridden by 54-year-old John Thorne. Aldaniti before the start of the race Bob Champion on Aldaniti The race beagan and Aldaniti nearly came to grief at the very first fence! "As we came to the fence Aldaniti stood off far too far away, pinged it but came down much too steep. He was on the ground, his nose and knees scraping the grass. I thought we'd had it." They hadn't. Aldaniti recovered his balance and sped on. Aldaniti jumps the final fence in the 1981 Grand National After the third fence, Aldaniti's jumping was exemplary, and by the eleventh he was in the lead. There he remained, taking each of the feared Aintree fences like 'Becher's Brook' and 'the Chair' in his stride. After Aldaniti and Champion had cleared the last of the 30 fences, and with other horses in hot pursuit, they set off up the run-in which the jockey later described as 'the loneliest place in the world'.

Aldaniti kept up his gallop, with Champion waving his whip as he passed the winning post, four lengths ahead of Spartan Missile, with Royal Mail third. Aldaniti, Royal Mail & Spartan Missile race for the line in the 1981 Grand National Champion had beaten cancer and his horse, twice very badly injured, had galloped all of his other rivals into submission. Watched by sixty thousand thousand at Aintree, and 750 million on TV worldwide, the miracle had happened - Bob Champion Aldaniti winning the 1981 Grand National Aldaniti returns to the Winner's Enclosure The 1981 Grand National has gone down in history as one of the most emotional, and inspirational races ever run. As Bob said afterwards, "I rode this race for all the patients in hospital, and all the people who look after them. My only wish is that my winning shows them that there is always hope, and all battles can be won." Bob Champion and Aldaniti returned to Josh Gifford's stable in Findon village to a hero's welcome. The whole village, along with thousands of visitors, turned out to see the horse and his jockey.

Aldaniti returns to Findon, to a hero's welcome Bob Champion and Aldaniti The whole of Bob Champion's amazing story was told in the fabulous feature film Champions (1984), starring John Hurt as Bob Champion, and Aldaniti as himself. Jan Francis, Bob Champion, John Hurt & Jo Beswick during the filming of Champions Aldaniti was ridden by John Burke for the film Champions Aldaniti ran in the National again the following year, but was one of 10 horses that fell at the first fence! He was retired and, for the next 15 years until his death in 1997 aged 27, helped to raise over six million pounds for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which Bob founded in 1983 and for which he has worked tirelessly ever ever since. The heartwarming story of Aldaniti's early years and his racing career is told in Liz Tresilian's book Aldaniti, published in 1984.

Bob Champion retired as a race jockey in 1983, after having won around 500 races including the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury in 1978 on Josh Gifford's fantastic horse Approaching. Bob Champion signed this photo to me In 1981, Bob Champion collaborated with his friend, the racing journalist Jonathan Powell, to write the book Champion's Story. Painting of Aldaniti & Bob Champion by Peter Curling Bob Champion was awarded the MBE in 1983 and the following year formed the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which has raised millions of pounds for cancer research. In August 1996, Bob undertook the Ride for Life in which he rode on several horses (including Aldaniti) from Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace in London, where he was greeted by the Queen. The event raised over a million pounds which was put towards the new Research Unit (opened in 2000) at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

Bob Champion on Aldaniti outside Holyrood Palace at the start of the 1996 Ride for Life The Queen talks to Bob Champion The Bob Champion Cancer Trust The Bob Champion Cancer Trust Be sure to visit Valerie Martin's fascinating website about Findon. It has lots of information about the racing life of the village, with images of Aldaniti, Bob Champion, Josh Gifford and many others. CLICK Bob Champion and Aldaniti - Grand National Legends Tips Jockey Bob Champion overcame impossible odds to achieve his dreams. His determination and dedication continue to inspire athletes many years after his famous Grand National win. Champion, born in Yorkshire, England in 1948, was surrounded by riders and hunters from the very beginning. His father was an avid huntsman who took young Bob riding frequently. These early experiences instilled in him the love of horses and riding that would eventually carry him to a Grand National triumph. At only 15 years old, Bob Champion won his first horse race. After his initial taste of victory, he continued to race on the National Hunt circuit. His skill in the saddle won him plenty of races, as well as respect. He also proved skilful with the ladies too.

His tempestuous love affairs were well-known and sometimes amusing to those around him. Champion tried his luck racing in America and enjoyed success. Though his career really took off back to Britain, where he had dreams of winning the Grand National. He raced over the famous Aintree fences eight times after returning to Britain, always keeping his eyes on the big prize. However, his career and life was about to take a major detour. In 1979, Bob Champion was diagnosed with testicular cancer. In true Champion fashion, Bob refused to believe that his doctors were correct. He stubbornly insisted that there was a mistake in the diagnosis. Doctors gave Champion a maximum of eight months to live. The diagnosis wasn’t wrong. Doctors gave Champion a maximum of eight months to live, with only a 40 percent chance of survival. In the late 1970s, survival rates in Britain for many forms of cancer were 50% lower than today. Things looked grim, but he was given a second chance. An extremely aggressive program of chemotherapy, if begun immediately, might just beat the odds. Champion agreed to begin the treatment the very same day.

Most people who have been diagnosed with cancer and told that they will most likely die within months would take some time away from work. Not Bob Champion. He returned to training and racing while still in treatment and set his sights on winning the 1980 Grand National. Unfortunately, Champion’s treatment had not been easy on his body. A large-scale infection nearly claimed his life and he was forced to put off his Grand National ambitions temporarily. Champion was soon recovering from his various hardships and back in training. In 1981, he rode Aldaniti in the Grand National. The two were a perfect pair: both hard-working, stubborn and recovering from serious health problems. Champion’s cancer and Aldaniti’s three leg injuries caused some to speculate that the team would be lucky to get round the course, nevermind win! However, even before the start of the race the public had taken Champion and Aldaniti to heart and backed the duo into 10/1 second favourites narrowly behind the favourite Spartan Missile who went off at 8/1. The two survivors melded on the Aintree Racecourse that April day in 1981.

Their victory is one of the most memorable and emotional moments ever to be recorded in horse racing. Coming in four-and-a-half lengths ahead of the competition, Champion and Aldaniti beat the odds and made history. TV Commentator Peter O’Sullevan described the finish of the race to those watching… “It’s Aldaniti in the lead but being pressed now by Spartan Missile. It’s Aldaniti from Spartan Missile and here comes John Thorne, 54 year old John Thorne putting in a storming finish. It’s Aldaniti from Spartan Missile. Aldaniti is gonna win it, at the line, Aldaniti wins the National!” You can watch Bob winning the Grand National below… Bob continued to race and win until 1983. By that time, he had approximately 500 wins to his credit. After leaving racing, he focused his energy on training horses and running the Bob Champion Cancer Trust. The charity has raised millions of pounds for cancer research and Champion continues to raise funds for it to this day. They taught us that, even when things look desperate, success is just over the next fence for those who choose to make the jump.

Although Aldaniti died in 1997 and Bob Champion retired from training horses in 1999, they are both legends of the horse racing world. Their legacy is a sense of hope for all those who follow in their paths. They taught us that, even when things look desperate, success is just over the next fence for those who choose to make the jump. If you think Bob is amazing and would like to support his fantastic work fighting Cancer then check out his website – The Bob Champion Cancer Trust . Bob Champion: The National treasure who keeps on running | Sport | The Guardian The Observer Bob Champion: The National treasure who keeps on running Jockey who defied cancer to win world's greatest steeplechase and inspire a movie explains his love of Aintree and the battle to stay healthy 30 years on from his finest hour Bob Champion has had to contend with heart attacks as well as the cancer that struck him down before his Grand National win. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Observer Saturday 2 April 2011 19.17 EDT First published on Saturday 2 April 2011 19.17 EDT Share on Messenger Close Idea for a movie.

A jockey who is told he will be dead in eight months unless he signs up to treatment with a 35-40% success rate wins the Grand National on a horse who was so badly injured in one of his races that the vet suggested a bullet was the only answer. Too late. Already been done. John Hurt played the rider in a 1983 film. But the tale kept rolling after Bob Champion passed the Aintree finishing post on Aldaniti, 30 years ago this week. It kept going into a new realm of illness, and defiance, and a fund-raising drive against cancer that provided Champion with a second act in life to surpass the first. We are in the kitchen of the yard in Findon, West Sussex, where Aldaniti was trained by Josh Gifford to defy outlandish odds. The 1981 National winner was a talented ex-crock who had restored his Aintree candidacy by trotting up at Ascot in a major trial. Champion had been ravaged by an early form of chemotherapy and was lucky still to be alive, never mind jumping Becher's Brook. He looks healthy now: nowhere near his 62 years.

But to get to Liverpool on Saturday, for the Bob Champion Aintree Legends Charity Race, in which a dozen National-winning ex-jockeys will compete, Aldaniti's former partner had to survive a second heart attack three weeks ago: 10 years to the day, spookily, after his first. As soft rain falls on the Downs where Nick Gifford took over from his father, Josh, Champion updates his story: "I speak on cruise ships a bit, and I'd come back from Barbados to a really busy week. I went to Stafford that night for the cancer trust, then to a meeting in London, then down to Hove to a dinner, then up to Whitby, then Harrogate. I was knackered when I got home. "A couple of days later I was at home in bed at one o'clock in the morning and had these chest pains. I knew what it was. Thankfully. I had some spray from the first heart attack but I'd never used it. It was 10 years out of date. I sprayed it under my tongue and that saved a lot of damage.

"I've got a couple of stents [artificial tubes] in there now and the surgeons ballooned the other vessels. It was the same day I had the heart attack 10 years ago – so I'm not going to go to bed in 10 years' time. I might go and park outside the hospital." Champion attributes his heart trouble to the effects of his treatment after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in July 1979: "The chemo was very barbaric in those days and it did affect my lungs. There's no way I can say it gave me the heart attack but some of the vessels were injured by the treatment in those days. I'm alive, that's the main thing. I wouldn't have been without the treatment." Hurt's character was living the life in a previous golden generation of National Hunt riders. People talk these days of a special crop – AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh and the rest – but Champion's contemporaries were also vivid figures on winter's landscape. "I rode with some really good jockeys. People like John Francome, Jonjo O'Neill, Ron Barry, Bob Davies: all great champions," he says. "Racing's changed.

AP has more than a thousand rides a year. John Francome – fantastic jockey – was lucky if he got 400. They've got to be fitter now – or they should be. They're more professional. We enjoyed life. But they're at it seven days a week. They're breathalysed. They can't really let themselves go on a Saturday night. We'd have a Saturday night out." But all this crashed with the cancer diagnosis. Jump racing steeled itself to say goodbye. Gifford, though, delivered a psychological gift, promising Champion his job as stable jockey would be waiting for him, even though he doubted that would be the outcome. "They gave me six to eight months to live. If I'd had the cancer 18 months before there'd have been no cure anyway, so I'd have been a goner," Champion says. "It was eight months to live – or a 35-40% chance of living, with the treatment. The odds weren't particularly good. I didn't want to die. But I didn't realise until they started pumping the stuff in how toxic it was. Jesus, I felt so ill after two days. It was horrendous treatment.

Thankfully now we've gone from 35-40% to 95% on testicular cancer alone [with early diagnosis]. So that's how far we've come. "Some days you'd rather be dead. I got septicaemia half-way through the treatment. You think you're drifting away and feel relief. Then they change your blood, get you up and you start the whole thing all over again. "Josh always said my job was there. I know he never really thought I'd live. But he kept giving me the confidence, which I needed. I started riding out when I came out of hospital, but I couldn't breathe. My lungs had been damaged and the weather was cold, which made it hurt more; so I went to the States, to South Carolina, where the weather was nice and warm. It made things easier. I spent eight months there." Champion's first post-cancer winner was on the Flat in Florida in May, 1980, but resuming over jumps in Britain was gruelling, and peppered by setbacks. But by Christmas, Champion was back in the groove.

He had never given up on Aldaniti as a National contender, despite the animal's two serious tendon injuries and fractured hock. He says: "He was a horse I'd always said would win a National one day. I'd been associated with horses who had gone on and won Nationals. I won the Eider Chase on Highland Wedding before he won at Aintree. I rode Rag Trade in his first race over fences. I used to look after Rubstic, who won a National. They all gave me this same feel. They had a low head carriage, were well balanced and were all good jumpers. "He [Aldaniti] broke down so many times. The last time it happened, at Sandown, it was very bad and the vets wanted to put him down. But he was such a great patient. He stood in a box for six months in plaster. That's hard for a horse. After that Nick Embiricos [his owner] did all the road work. He came back into the yard on 1 January and Josh rode him out every day himself. He thought it was the only way he was going to get him to Liverpool. Josh has terrific hands, because the old horse used to pull very hard.

If Josh hadn't ridden him every day he might not have got there. "When the old horse went to Ascot for the Whitbread Trial he was 16-1 but he absolutely bolted up. He never came off the bridle. I thought – if he's as good as that on the day, that's good enough for the National, in my book. He went from 66-1 for the National to 14-1 so he must have been pretty impressive." Champion refers to Aldaniti as "the old horse" a lot. Their lives, even now, are inseparable. In the race, Aldaniti, a 10-1 shot, beat Spartan Missile, ridden by an amateur, Mr John Thorne, who was killed a year later in a point-to-point. Even in its aftermath the 1981 Grand National was redemptive and tragic by turns. "From the moment I went by the post everything seemed to change in my life – for good and bad, I suppose," Champion says. "I was still a professional jockey, though. I had to ride in a race an hour later. Part of the job. And I'm glad I did.

It should have won, but it didn't. "Every time I tried to have a glass of champagne the press took it off me for the photograph. The first drink I had was a can of Coke on the motorway going back. Made up for it the next night, though." Champion trained for a while but his cancer trust became more consuming: "I don't know how long we believed it would go for, but it got bigger, and we've got our own research laboratory, which has been very successful. Our next target is prostate. One in 10 men get prostrate cancer now and hopefully we'll come up with the goods there." After the race 30 years ago Champion and Aldaniti stayed together: "I used to see him regularly because he did so much for the cancer trust. Holyrood Castle, Buckingham Palace. He used to go up in the lift at big stores. Terrific temperament. He was wonderful with the public – a nice kind horse who loved the attention." Aldaniti died of a heart attack in 1997, aged 27.

This is one of those National stories (the greatest of them all, to this day) that expresses the full human and equine grandeur of the challenge. The contest itself is a metaphor for what Aldaniti and Champion overcame to be there in the first place, never mind win. No wonder he is almost ever-present on Grand National day: "I've only missed one in 40 years – and that was because I had the first heart attack, 10 years ago. I rode in 10. I love going up there. I always walk down to The Chair. It brings back memories. I love the Liverpool people. They go there and they enjoy themselves. "That's what I like to see." The Bob Champion Cancer Trust is at bobchampion.org.uk Top 10 Grand National memories in history TAGS: Grand National Red Rum ’s record-breaking third win at the 1977 Grand National has been named as the most memorable moment in the history of the famous race. Runner-up in bookmaker William Hill’s poll of 2,000 Britons was the moment AP McCoy finally won — after 14 attempts — on Don’t Push It in 2010.

Third was the tear-jerking occasion when cancer survivor Bob Champion rode Aldaniti to victory at Aintree in 1981. Article continues below... The poll also revealed that only 15% of Grand National punters consult a form guide to select their horses, only 9% look at the odds and more than 40% base their bet on the horse’s name. Continued below… With the world’s most famous horserace taking place this weekend (Saturday 9 April), familiar faces from the horseworld give you… Top 10 most memorable Grand National moments Red Rum (1977): The greatest ever horse in Grand National history wins for the third time AP McCoy (2010): All-time great AP McCoy had missed the target in the National on 14 occasions, but 2010 was finally his year when he won riding Don’t Push It Aldaniti (1981): There wasn’t a dry eye to be found when cancer survivor Bob Champion rode Aldaniti, a horse who had been on racing’s scrap heap, to a 10/1 victory for West Sussex trainer Josh Gifford.

Their remarkable story was later turned into the hit movie Champions starring John Hurt Streakers at Aintree (2011): Fearless friends Gemma Porter, 29, and Louise Van-Marle, 21, claimed their place in history when they dodged stewards to gain access to the track, stripping off to bare all to thousands of stunned onlookers on the first day of the Grand National Festival Void Race (1993): The race ended in chaos as 30 of the 39 riders failed to realise a false start had been called and set off around the track. The Jockey Club was forced to declare the race void The Monday race (1997): No-one will ever forget the year Lord Gyllene won the National. Not just because he won looking like he could go round again, but it was the year when the famous race was run on a Monday. A bomb scare reduced Saturday afternoon’s spectacular to chaos when the announcement was made that the entire course would have to be evacuated. Everyone gathered again 48 hours later on Monday to see Lord Gyllene and Tony Dobbin power to a 25-length success.

Only four horses finish (2001): Aintree’s heavy conditions weren’t exactly conducive to perfect racing, though the frequency of fallers (20) was stunning. Most came a cropper at the first jumping of the Canal Turn when a loose horse decided to come between fence and the second pack of runners, causing all jockeys to slow their horses. The race was won by Red Marauder Corbiere (1983): Jenny Pitman made history as the first woman to train a Grand National winner when Corbiere charged home at 13/1. A class act, Corbiere was third in 1984 and 1985. Pitman went on to train another winner in 1995 with Royal Athlete.

The next woman to win the big race was Venetia Williams with 100/1 outsider Mon Mome in 2009 Party Politics (1992): Party Politics came first in the same week as the 1992 General Election, when John Major took over the reins for the country Foinavon (1967): Jockey John Buckingham thought his outside chance had gone up in smoke when he trailed the field on 100/1 longshot Foinavon. But a pile-up at the 23rd fence caused havoc — none of the horses were able to jump it and, by the time Foinavon caught up with his rivals, Buckingham was able to find a route, traverse the fence and race clear. Seventeen jockeys remounted and gave chase, but they were not able to stop a fairy-tale winner. The 23rd fence is now known as the Foinavon in his honour. William Hill spokesman Jon Ivan-Duke said: “Who can forget these incredible moments which have made the Grand National Britain’s best loved race?

It’s good to see AP McCoy in the list and we know that millions will be cheering him on come Saturday. His mount, Shutthefrontdoor, could be the shortest-priced favourite since Red Rum.” Latest deals Bob Champion MBE - The Gordon Poole Agency Ltd Bob Champion MBE Share this speaker’s details Legendary Jockey Bob Champion MBE – Legendary Cancer Surviving Jockey and Entertaining After-Dinner Speaker. We're here to help, General Enquiry form Champion’s passion for horses began after an introduction to hunting by his young sister, Mary. It was a passion that saw him win his first race at a Point-to-Point on ‘Holmcourt’ at the age of just 15. Injuries are an occupational hazard to jockeys, broken ankles, concussion, dislocated thumbs and worse, along with hours spent in saunas and food deprivation, to lose those vital pounds, is all part of the job and par for the course. It seemed nothing frightened Bob Champion – until he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 31 and given just eight months to live unless he underwent revolutionary new chemotherapy treatment.

By this time he had won upwards of 350 races and had never felt fitter, making the diagnosis even harder to accept. Reluctantly he underwent surgery to remove one of his testicles, as well as part of a rib to allow access to the centre of his chest where the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. During his treatment, Bob had clung on to his dream of one day winning The Grand National, on his favourite horse, ‘Aldaniti’…. and that dream came true. In 1981, watched by an estimated 750 million people worldwide, Bob Champion, rode ‘Aldaniti’ to Grand National victory. After the race Bob issued this statement: “I rode this race for all the patients in the hospital. And for all the people who look after them. My only wish is that my winning shows them that there is always hope and that all battles can be won. I just hope it will encourage others to face their illness with fresh spirit.” In 1986 The Bob Champion Cancer Research Unit opened within the Royal Marsden Hospital. Bob is available to deliver after-dinner and inspirational keynote speeches.

Testimonials We write to thank you for your company and your support of The Royal Society of St George, Costa Blanca. The Banquet and Fund Raising Lunch were both a great success The Royal Society of St. George Thank you very much indeed for taking the time and trouble to drive across the country to Bourton on the Water to be our speaker at Prize Giving. You were a brilliant guest - who everyone approved of - and it was lovely to see the care you took to speak with each prize winner The Coltswold School Just a quick note to thank you for a great speech at our sporting dinner last week. All our guests enjoyed the evening and found your life story very interesting Sporting Dinner - Copthorne Hotel Just a short note to thank you so much for coming to our dinner last night. It really made a difference that people like you are prepared to put themselves out and join in with the fun. There is a downside - you were so good I will have to invite you to the next such event. Ladbrokes Worldwide On behalf of the association, I would like to thank you for speaking at our dinner a fortnight ago. The comments I have received from other diners have been most favourable.

It was fascinating to hear of your extensive fund raising work as well as the better publicised achievements that first brought you to the nation's attention. We wish you well in continuing this worthy work Haltemprice & Howden Conservative Association I wish to confirm in writing our grateful thanks for your attendance at our Open Evening on 1 March. Your speech was warm and conveyed the appropriate message for the evening, and I am certain that many people were delighted by your presence BMI – The Ridgeway Hospital GRAND NATIONAL 2013: Red Rum, Aldaniti, Devon Loch... Golden Years Special | Daily Mail Online comments Few events on the British sporting calendar capture the imagination quite like the Grand National. A supreme test for jockey and horse, the marathon race has produced some of the most dramatic and emotional moments in sporting history. In this Golden Years, we've taken a look through the archives ahead of this weekend's race to bring you some memorable images from the National's illustrious past. There are the famous triumphs of Red Rum and Aldaniti, the surprise win for Foinavon and the agony of Devon Loch.

But there are also the pictures that help to show the true majesty and grandeur of the Aintree spectacular, including a look at some of the course's demanding fences. We hope you enjoy these images, and if they help to bring back some particular memories, please feel free to share them at the bottom of this article. Scroll down for video This is a view of the famous Becher's Brook fence in 1936, with the horses jumping it for the second time. The fence has been the subject of controversy over the years, not least when two horses died in the 1989 race, but it still plays a key role in the race. Reynoldstown won this 1936 race, a second victory in succession This terrific picture shows the start of the 1929 National, which had a record number of runners, 66. The maximum number of entrants for the big race is now fixed at 40. The 1929 edition had a surprise winner, the 100-1 outsider Gregalac. Bookmakers everywhere will be hoping for a similar result on Saturday afternoon The most famous Grand National winner of them all is Red Rum.

The history-making horse had three victories in the 1970s and entranced the nation in the process. In the above picture, Red Rum (left), ridden by Brian Fletcher, edges to victory over Crisp to win his first National in 1973, completing one of the great charges from behind at Aintree. Another win followed in 1974 and the hat-trick arrived in 1977. In the below picture, the crowd celebrate Red Rum's third win, with Tommy Stack on board This picture gives you some idea of the wonderful chaos that has always been a feature of Grand National day. Here, the 1937 winner Royal Mail, with Evan Williams on board, is guided through the crowds. Royal Mail won at the rather delightful odds of 100-6 The most heartwarming and moving Grand National story of them all was surely the day Bob Champion rode Aldaniti to victory in the 1981 race. Champion had been diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1979, with doctors giving him only a 40 per cent chance of survival and possibly only months to live. He had an extremely aggressive course of chemotherapy and eventually returned to racing.

His win on Aldaniti, a horse trained by Josh Gifford that had been on the verge of retirement due to a serious leg injury, ranks as one of racing's all-time classic moments. In the above picture, Champion and Aldaniti jump the final fence, in the below picture a smiling Champion makes his way through the Aintree crowds after claiming victory Another one of Aintree's infamous fences is The Chair - both that and the Water Jump are the only fences to be jumped just once. This picture shows jockey Derek Ancil, who rode the race 11 times, being thrown off his horse Triple Touch in the 1954 National One of the most celebrated horses in the history of National Hunt racing is Golden Miller, still the only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year, 1934. Here is a picture of the horse, with Gerry Wilson on board, being led in at Aintree by owner Dorothy Paget after claiming a famous triumph Enlarge This old Daily Mail picture illustrates the sheer chaos at the 23rd fence in the 1967 National.

A loose horse, Popham Down, caused such mayhem that the field was brought to a virtual standstill. Television commentator Michael O'Hehir exclaimed, 'With all this chaos, Foinavon has gone off on his own' and the 100-1 shot wrote his name in Grand National folklore that day. He was such an outsider before the race that his trainer, John Kempton, opted to ride at Worcester rather than watch his charge The name Devon Loch has become a sporting metaphor for turning almost certain victory into defeat, after the horse owned by the Queen Mother inexplicably slipped when cantering to victory in the 1956 National. No official explanation was ever given, with some suggesting the horse suffered cramp, while jockey Dick Francis believed he was distracted by a huge cheer from the crowd. The Queen Mother was sanguine about the whole affair, simply saying 'Oh, that's racing.' This picture is rather telling, with a disconsolate Francis being led away Pub quiz fanatics everywhere will be well aware of the name Esha Ness, seen here crossing the line to win the 'National that never was' in 1993.

On an embarrassing day for racing, two false starts were called, but 30 of the 39 horses went off second time round as the starter's recall flag didn't unfurl. It was decided that the race wouldn't take place on another day, so Esha Ness and John White were denied their moment of glory. White didn't find out his win wouldn't count until afterwards. 'There's no point feeling bitter, you can't change what went on,' he said years later. Here is another of those dramatic pictures from the famous race - here, seven horses fall at the first fence in 1951. There were no fatalities in that year's race, however. The winner was Nickel Coin at odds of 40-1, one of only 13 mares to win the race - and the most recent One of the most popular characters in British racing is Jenny Pitman, with her most celebrated moment coming 30 years ago when she became the first woman to train a Grand National winner. Here she is laughing after the race with Ben de Haan, who rode Corbiere to victory.

Pitman was celebrating in Liverpool again 12 years later, when her horse Royal Athlete won the 1995 race Here's a celebrating Richard Dunwoody as he crosses the finish line on my favourite Grand National winner of all, West Tip, in 1986. One of the most consistent National horses of the 1980s, West Tip finished fourth in 1987 and 1988, and then second in the 1989 race This 1907 picture of the landing side of Becher's Brook gives you some idea of the scale and sheer brutality of the fence. The famous fence took its name from Captain Martin Becher, who fell there from his mount, Conrad, in the first official Grand National in 1839 This smashing picture shows the crowd at Aintree cheering the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary at the 1921 Grand National. This was the 80th running of the great race and the third since a break during World War One.

The race was won by Shaun Spadah Manifesto was credited with restoring the popularity of the Grand National in the late years of the 19th century, such was his brilliance in winning the race twice, in 1897 and 1899. This picture shows Manifesto (left) during one of a record eight appearances in the National Bookmakers were cursing the 'housewives choice' Party Politics, ridden by Carl Llewellyn, as he romped to victory in the 1992 race. Millions of people were left to wonder why they didn't see the omens, with the horse winning the race just a few days before the 1992 General Election This final picture shows the line-up of horses at the start of the 1940 National - a special edition of the famous race as it took place during World War Two. The 99th National was won by Bogskar, a 25/1 shot ridden by RAF sergeant Mervyn Jones. The race wasn't run again for six years due to the war, with the National returning for its 100th edition in 1946 Grand National saved my life!

Bob Champion on Aldaniti's win that helped to beat cancer | Daily Mail Online Grand National saved my life! Bob Champion on Aldaniti's win that helped to beat cancer Champion rode Aldaniti to victory in the 1981 Grand National at Aintree Two years earlier the jockey had been diagnosed with testicular cancer He had been given a 35 per cent chance of making a recovery by medics It was 35 years ago that one of the most uplifting sporting stories of the 20th century unfolded over the perilous fences of Aintree. There, from the brink of death, Bob Champion rode Aldaniti to victory in the Grand National. It was April 4, 1981, and the whole country was swept along by a tale of triumph over adversity. Bob Champion rode Aldaniti to victory in the 1981 Grand National two years after being told he had cancer For less than two years earlier, Champion, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer, had been given between four and seven months to live. ‘The odds weren’t particularly good,’ says Champion now, aged 67. ‘They said there was a 35 per cent chance of recovery.

It is now 95 per cent, but if I’d got it 18 months earlier, there was no cure at all.’ He told the medics he was minded to carry on racing regardless, and that he might die in the saddle in any case. RELATED ARTICLES Share 659 shares ‘You’re not a bad novice chase jockey,’ the doctor, a racing follower, reasoned with him, ‘and if you were on a 6-4 shot you’d give it a ride, wouldn’t you?’ That logic changed Champion’s mind. So began a barbaric course of treatment. For seven-day stretches he took a blast of horrible chemicals. Then septicaemia set in. ‘I was relieved in a way,’ he says. ‘I was glad to think I might die and wouldn’t need any more chemotherapy. My brother-in-law drove me to the hospital. He was going about 140mph and we were stopped by the police. He told them why we were going so fast and they gave us an escort to the hospital.

I was 20 minutes from dying, and they just changed my blood in time.’ The whole country was swept along by a tale of triumph over adversity as Champion raced to victory Released from hospital on Jan-uary 1, 1980, he weighed a pathetic 8st 7lb, a fraction under two stones less than his riding weight. Struggling to breathe in the English winter, his lungs damaged from the disease which had spread there, he took himself off to the warmth of America to recover and ride again. Having recovered, Champion was reading the Racing Post one February morning — the 13th day of the month, 13 being his lucky number — when he saw that Aldaniti was 16-1 for the Whitbread Trial Chase at Ascot and 66-1 for the National. ‘I told my mum (Phyllis) to put a few quid on it. It was a good day. She put a right few quid on it, in fact. I just knew Aldaniti would win the National.

It was a formality.’ The 67-year-old still lives in Newmarket and remains intimately involved in the racing world The rest, as he says, is history (as recorded in the film Champions). First: Aldaniti. Second, four lengths back: Spartan Missile, ridden by Champion’s great friend, the 54-year John Thorne, a grandfather and amateur jockey. Today Champion still lives in Newmarket and remains intimately involved in the racing world. And the cancer charity set up in his name in 1983 has raised north of £15million. Now, as befits a man whose illness defined his life — as well as cancer he has survived two heart attacks — Champion is ready to donate his brain in the name of research into the effects of concussion on jockeys. ‘As long as they check I am dead, they can take what they like,’ he says. ‘It might even save on funeral fees. If it helps jockeys one little bit, I’d be delighted. When I was a jockey we’d just lie about getting bangs on the head.

Champion received the Helen Rollason award as part of the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year ‘I had a big bang while schooling in the early Seventies and I went missing for months. I can’t remember much about that period — I was gaga — but I travelled around the country trying to beat the doctors. If the Jockey Club were coming to find me, I’d drive away somewhere early in the morning so they couldn’t test me. ‘Eventually, they did find me. They gave me a scan and banned me for four months. It was a good thing they did really, but banging your head and continuing to ride was part of the game then.’ Concussion among jump jockeys remains more prevalent than in any other branch of sport. Riders on average fall every 14 mounts and are concussed in one of every 54 falls. This has led the International Concussion and Head Injury Clinic to enlist jockeys as part of their three-year research project aimed at identifying the links between head injury and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

The investigation is backed by the Injured Jockeys Fund and five former jockeys, including Sir Anthony McCoy and Peter Scudamore, have agreed to be scanned. However, the degenerative chronic traumatic encephalopathy can only be traced after death. Hence Champion’s promise to leave his brain behind when the rest of him is gone. ‘There is a limit to how much you can do to make racing safer,’ he says. ‘Helmets have improved — people used to ride out without helmets — and so has the medical side of it. But you cannot tie jockeys to a horse.’ Champion has not missed a National since 1970, not even through illness. He will be back at Aintree next weekend with all the same enthusiasm of old. ‘I’ll always be grateful to the National,’ he says. ‘It is a special race. It made my life.

In a way, it saved it.’ Josh Gifford obituary | Sport | The Guardian Josh Gifford obituary Champion jockey and trainer of the National winner Aldaniti Gifford, second right, with Bob Champion (left), Aldaniti and the horse’s owner, Nick Embiricos, after the 1981 Grand National win. Photograph: PA Friday 10 February 2012 10.48 EST First published on Friday 10 February 2012 10.48 EST Share on Messenger Close Josh Gifford, who has died aged 70 following a heart attack, was a leading figure in jump racing for four decades, a man who enjoyed success at the highest level, both as jockey and trainer. He was champion jump jockey four times and one of the few riders to have won big races both on the flat and over jumps. But his greatest moment came as a trainer, when he sent out Aldaniti and the jockey Bob Champion, who had recently recovered from testicular cancer, to win the 1981 Grand National – the denouement of a story so inspirational that it was made into a movie.

From the moment that Champion was diagnosed in 1979, Gifford insisted that his job would be waiting for him when he recovered, no matter how long it took, and Champion always acknowledged how the trainer's loyalty helped him through. Meanwhile, Aldaniti himself was giving his trainer sleepless nights, as the horse suffered a string of leg injuries which kept him out of action for long stretches. So when, at Aintree in April 1981, Aldaniti and Champion turned in a brilliant display to win the National, the famously lachrymose Gifford made no effort to hold back the tears. The 1984 film Champions – in which Gifford was played by Edward Woodward – was based on the jockey's bestselling autobiography, Champion's Story, and the Bob Champion Cancer Trust, founded in the wake of the National victory, has raised millions of pounds. The son of a farmer who rode as an amateur jockey, Gifford was born in Huntingdon, now in Cambridgeshire. He rode in gymkhanas before being apprenticed to the trainer Cliff Beechener and had his first ride in a race at the age of 11.

He rode his first winner in 1956, and the same year, while still an apprentice, won the Manchester November Handicap – then one of the season's major races. His other big-race victories on the flat included the 1957 Irish Lincoln and the Chester Cup the same year. Increasing weight caused Gifford to switch codes, and as a jump jockey he was soon establishing himself as one of the very best. In a golden age of National Hunt riders – Fred Winter , Terry Biddlecombe and Stan Mellor were in their prime – Gifford was champion four times, in the seasons 1962-63, 1963-64, 1966-67 (when his 122 winners set a new record total) and 1967-68. Off the track, he threw himself into the cavalier lifestyle of jump jockeys in those days, carousing all night in London after riding in the afternoon, then spending the next morning in the Jermyn Street Turkish baths to lose weight before setting off for that afternoon's riding action.

The racing journalist Brough Scott, himself a young jump jockey in those days, wrote: "Spending one evening on the lash with him and Terry Biddlecombe would fix most people. How they would do it week after week only their livers could tell." As a jockey, Gifford never won any of the sport's "big three" races: the Cheltenham Gold Cup (in which he never even rode), Champion Hurdle and Grand National – though one of the key images of his career is his relentless but unsuccessful pursuit of Foinavon on Honey End in the notorious 1967 National. Honey End finished runner-up, and Gifford was always convinced that he would have won, if he had not got entangled in the infamous melee at the 23rd fence. Among his 642 career winners were four at the Cheltenham National Hunt Meeting (now the Festival), and he rode the winners of four of the first five runnings of the Schweppes Gold Trophy, one of the big betting races of the season. Gifford retired from the saddle in 1970 and started training from the West Sussex yard of his former boss Ryan Price.

Although he was never champion trainer – runner-up to David Elsworth in 1987-88 was the closest he came – he sent out a stream of top-class horses as well as Aldaniti, including Deep Sensation, Bradbury Star, Vodkatini, Brief Gale, Approaching and Kybo. In 1989 he was appointed MBE. Gifford's last winner was Skycab at Sandown Park in April 2003, at which point the training operation was taken over by his son, Nick. He is survived by his wife, Althea (formerly a showjumper), and their children, Tina, herself a three-day event rider, and Nick. • Joshua Thomas Gifford, jockey and trainer, born 3 August 1941; died 9 February 2012 • This article was amended on 13 February 2012. The original said that Gifford was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. This has been clarified.

Question: What was the name of the horse that Bob Champion rode to victory in the 1981 Grand National
Answer: Aldaniti